Isaiah 65 Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

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Max Lucado Daily: Face the Music

Many years ago a man conned his way into an orchestra although he could not play a note.  He would hold his flute against his lips, pretend to play but not make a sound.  Then one day the leader requested a solo from each musician. The man was panic stricken. On the day of his solo performance, he took poison and killed himself. The explanation of his suicide led to a phrase that found its way into the English language:  “He refused to face the music.”

Face the music! Some of us have buried a marriage, parts of a conscience, and even parts of our faith—all because we won’t face the music…we won’t tell the truth. Ask yourself, am I honest in my dealings? Am I a trustworthy student?  An honest taxpayer? Do you tell the truth—always?

Proverbs says, “The Lord hates a lying tongue.” (12:19)

Just tell the truth.

from Just Like Jesus

Isaiah 65

Judgment and Salvation

65 “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
    I was found by those who did not seek me.
To a nation that did not call on my name,
    I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’
2 All day long I have held out my hands
    to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
    pursuing their own imaginations—
3 a people who continually provoke me
    to my very face,
offering sacrifices in gardens
    and burning incense on altars of brick;
4 who sit among the graves
    and spend their nights keeping secret vigil;
who eat the flesh of pigs,
    and whose pots hold broth of impure meat;
5 who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me,
    for I am too sacred for you!’
Such people are smoke in my nostrils,
    a fire that keeps burning all day.
6 “See, it stands written before me:
    I will not keep silent but will pay back in full;
    I will pay it back into their laps—
7 both your sins and the sins of your ancestors,”
    says the Lord.
“Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains
    and defied me on the hills,
I will measure into their laps
    the full payment for their former deeds.”
8 This is what the Lord says:

“As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes
    and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it,
    there is still a blessing in it,’
so will I do in behalf of my servants;
    I will not destroy them all.
9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
    and from Judah those who will possess my mountains;
my chosen people will inherit them,
    and there will my servants live.
10 Sharon will become a pasture for flocks,
    and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds,
    for my people who seek me.
11 “But as for you who forsake the Lord
    and forget my holy mountain,
who spread a table for Fortune
    and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
12 I will destine you for the sword,
    and all of you will fall in the slaughter;
for I called but you did not answer,
    I spoke but you did not listen.
You did evil in my sight
    and chose what displeases me.”
13 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“My servants will eat,
    but you will go hungry;
my servants will drink,
    but you will go thirsty;
my servants will rejoice,
    but you will be put to shame.
14 My servants will sing
    out of the joy of their hearts,
but you will cry out
    from anguish of heart
    and wail in brokenness of spirit.
15 You will leave your name
    for my chosen ones to use in their curses;
the Sovereign Lord will put you to death,
    but to his servants he will give another name.
16 Whoever invokes a blessing in the land
    will do so by the one true God;
whoever takes an oath in the land
    will swear by the one true God.
For the past troubles will be forgotten
    and hidden from my eyes.
New Heavens and a New Earth

17 “See, I will create
    new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
    nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
    and its people a joy.
19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem
    and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
    will be heard in it no more.
20 “Never again will there be in it
    an infant who lives but a few days,
    or an old man who does not live out his years;
the one who dies at a hundred
    will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach[a] a hundred
    will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses and dwell in them;
    they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
    or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
    so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy
    the work of their hands.
23 They will not labor in vain,
    nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
    they and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer;
    while they are still speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
    and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
    on all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.



Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: 2 Timothy 2:19-26

19 Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”

20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. 21 Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

22 Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25 Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

Always Preparing

May 6, 2013 — by Dave Branon

If anyone cleanses himself from [dishonor], he will be a vessel for honor, . . . prepared for every good work. —2 Timothy 2:21

While my son was home for an extended visit, he knocked on my office door one morning and asked me what I was doing. “I’m preparing for Sunday school,” I told him. Then, thinking about all the time I spend in my office, I said, “It seems like I’m always preparing for something.”

I’m grateful for the opportunities God gives me to reach out to others. There’s some stress, though, when you’re always getting something ready for somebody. It’s hard to balance priorities with the pressure to prepare a lesson, a message, or a document continually on your mind.

This idea of constant preparation intrigued me, so I checked the Bible to see if it talks about the subject. I found that we are called to always be preparing. A heart dedicated to God must be prepared to serve Him (1 Sam. 7:3). We are to be ready to do good works (2 Tim. 2:21) and to defend scriptural truth (1 Peter 3:15). And Paul reminds us that even our giving takes planning (2 Cor. 9:5).

That’s just a start. Living a life that pleases the Lord takes mental, spiritual, and physical preparation. But we don’t need to stress, because He will enable us with His power. Let’s ask God to guide us as we prepare to serve, honor, and tell others about Him.

Savior, like a shepherd lead us,
Much we need Thy tender care;
In Thy pleasant pastures feed us,
For our use Thy folds prepare. —Thrupp
The best preparation for tomorrow is the right use of today.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 6, 2013

Liberty and the Standards of Jesus

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free . . . —Galatians 5:1

A spiritually-minded person will never come to you with the demand—”Believe this and that”; a spiritually-minded person will demand that you align your life with the standards of Jesus. We are not asked to believe the Bible, but to believe the One whom the Bible reveals (see John 5:39-40). We are called to present liberty for the conscience of others, not to bring them liberty for their thoughts and opinions. And if we ourselves are free with the liberty of Christ, others will be brought into that same liberty— the liberty that comes from realizing the absolute control and authority of Jesus Christ.

Always measure your life solely by the standards of Jesus. Submit yourself to His yoke, and His alone; and always be careful never to place a yoke on others that is not of Jesus Christ. It takes God a long time to get us to stop thinking that unless everyone sees things exactly as we do, they must be wrong. That is never God’s view. There is only one true liberty— the liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience enabling us to do what is right.

Don’t get impatient with others. Remember how God dealt with you— with patience and with gentleness. But never water down the truth of God. Let it have its way and never apologize for it. Jesus said, “Go . . . and make disciples. . .” (Matthew 28:19), not, “Make converts to your own thoughts and opinions.”


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Decision In Rome - #6866

Monday, May 6, 2013

Spring is a time for cardinals. Like we have cardinals dining every morning at our backyard birdhouse. Oh yeah, and the baseball Cardinals. You know, they gather in Florida for spring training, and the fans start counting down to Opening Day.

And then the cardinals who migrated to Rome this spring to elect a new pope; knowing that that pope would symbolize and shape the largest religious institution in the world. The cardinals clearly felt the weight of their decision in Rome, and some spoke out, expressing in advance the kind of man they thought the church needed.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Decision In Rome."

I was struck by what Cardinal Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington, D. C., had to say about the times in which we live. Yeah, he was talking about what's needed in a 21st Century pope. But I thought he gave any of us who care about the cause of Christ in our generation something to think about. He said, "Great secularism is pervading the church and prevailing all around us, so it brings a sense of urgency that we need to be (and I like this), re-proposing the Gospel."

Twenty centuries ago, Jesus described what the world will look like just before He returns. He said, "Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most (and that's His followers) will grow cold...and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:12, 14).

Creeping carelessness about sin and coldness toward Jesus for most of His people, but not all. Some are going to be on fire, sensing the two-minute warning on God's clock. And they will abandon the apathy of the age and they are going to go for broke to give everyone on this planet a chance at Jesus - the cold and the bold.

Cardinal Wuerl contributed some additional insight on how relevant leadership will have to adapt. He said, "We will need to be able to reach out through all the means of communication today, especially social communications, to be present all over the world."

Rewind 2,000 years and hear God's Ambassador Paul articulating a spiritual rescue strategy for all times. "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22). By all possible means. In order to be what did he say? "Present all over the world." Facebook, YouTube, Google, Twitter, Amazon, SmartPhones, mobile apps, words that represent a worldwide revolution in communications - instant access to whatever. Things to buy, things to entertain, things that will corrode a soul, or if we Jesus-followers hear the wake-up call, things that could help reach a soul.

There are 35 times the number of people here than there were when Jesus gave His final orders in our word for today from the Word of God, Mark 16:15, "Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere." Now there are seven billion humans on earth and over 150,000 slip into eternity every day.

We cannot trap the life-saving Gospel of Jesus inside church walls or comfortable methodologies. In today's cynical and tribalized world, the primary messenger of Jesus' Good News is the everyday believer, not their church. And the most effective means of reaching the most hearts are outside our box.

James Martin's description of what kind of leader the Roman Catholic Church needed sums up the kind of leader I want to be for my Lord. Martin, the editor-at-large for America Magazine, said that the next pope needed to be someone who's "holy (who) can effectively preach the gospel. Jesus (he said) used any and all media to communicate." He called for preaching "with an understanding of how people hear."

I want to have the courage to go beyond the comfy Christian cocoon. To embrace "all possible means" for getting the message of the cross to people in the places where they are, with the words they can understand.